The Australian Music Touring Network is now live, mapping original venues across the country and plotting the drive between them for free.
Google Maps finds country pubs. It won’t tell you if the PA works. The Australian Music Touring Network will.
The Australian Music Touring Network launched on 30 October, timed with the final day of the Regional & Remote Music Summit in Mount Gambier. It’s a free, map-based directory of original live music venues in cities, regional centres and remote towns. It was built by the Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN), the alliance of the eight state and territory peak bodies for contemporary music, Music Victoria among them. Venues were first asked to put their names down in August, when Beat covered stage one of the rollout.
Australian Music Touring Network
- What: A free national map of original live music venues, with a tour planner built in
- Launched: 30 October
- Run by: Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN)
- Cost: Free for artists, industry and venues
- Where: australianmusictouringnetwork.com
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
View this post on Instagram
Each venue profile lists capacity, preferred genres, opening days and a booking contact, along with technical specs and accessibility information. Venues can also add local knowledge on nearby accommodation, food and transport. Artists filter the map by capacity, venue type, backline or accessibility, then save the rooms that look right to a Favourites list.
When the shortlist is sorted, the Touring function turns it into a route. Drag venues into order on the map and it shows the distance and approximate driving time between stops. A band can see whether two back-to-back shows 400 kilometres apart are realistic before anyone hires a van. Once the run is set, the itinerary exports to a spreadsheet that bandmates and crew can all work from as a tour book.
Community radio has its own layer. The Radio Stations function was built with support from the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) and shows which community broadcasters cover the towns on a planned route. Station profiles link to Amrap, the Australian Music Radio Airplay Project, for acts chasing airplay or an interview before they arrive.
The platform grew out of MusicNSW’s Regional Touring Network, the New South Wales version that served as the model for the national build. Funding came from the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia. Artists and industry can sign up now at no cost, and any venue that regularly programs original music can register for a spot on the map.
For more information, head here.
